


Is It A Video?

by icyvanity



Series: Andreil Week 2018 [2]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Established Relationship, Fluff, Light Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Portal 2 is mentioned, Saints Row: The Third (Freeform), Skype, Teenagers, Video & Computer Games, god is mentioned a few times but not in a religious way, more of a slang/this is how kids speak way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-05-21 04:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14908523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icyvanity/pseuds/icyvanity
Summary: Neil and Andrew over summer vacation in high school, playing video games together, and falling in love like the teenagers they could’ve been.





	Is It A Video?

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 6 of [andreilweek](http://andreilweek.tumblr.com) for the prompts "video games" and "distance"
> 
> Title from _Visions of Gideon_ by Sufjan Stevens

“That’s not realistic at all.”

“Are you seriously criticizing a gang war in a video game that also features aliens and mutant clones? As if _that’s_ the unrealistic thing here?”

“…maybe”

Andrew rolled his eyes. His phone was balanced precariously against his laptop screen, the video slow and grainy, but undeniably it was Neil’s dumb face taking up the entire screen, eyes flickering back and forth between the phone and his own laptop.

“You know,” Andrew said, “you might die less if you put your phone down and played with two hands like God intended.”

Neil stuck his tongue out at Andrew, but the video lagged for a moment and his face was stuck like that while his quiet laughter filtered through the tinny, shitty speakers on Andrew’s phone.

“If you’re going to be rude, I’ll just hang up on you,” Neil retorted. Now Andrew’s entire screen was filled with a close-up of Neil’s eyes, impossibly blue and cartoonishly sad beneath his eyebrows.

Andrew ignored the rush it sent through him and said, “Then you would have no one to teach you how to not die every five seconds in Saints Row.”

Neil pulled away from the screen a little, an exaggerated frown now adorning his lips. The angle was strange, making him look even cuter and more…squishable than usual. Andrew stomped down on that thought with all his might, but he felt his face heating so he turned away, but not before he caught a glimpse of a smile replacing Neil’s frown; he only blushed harder, determinedly looking away. Neither of them spoke, but Andrew could feel Neil’s eyes on him. Their silence was only broken by the occasional shout of Neil’s character getting the shit kicked out of him on his laptop, since he still hadn’t mastered the art of pausing his game before deciding to stare at his maybe-boyfriend for hours on end.

“I miss you,” Neil said quietly, and Andrew’s eyes snapped back to his face. Neil’s expression was carefully neutral and now he was the one not looking at the screen.

Andrew wished eye contact wasn’t completely impossible over facetime, wished that Neil was sitting right in front of him on his bedroom floor so that Andrew could curl his fingers around the back of Neil’s neck. He’d never been particularly tactile before, but he _wanted_ so badly to wrap his arms around Neil and protect him from the horrors and disappointments of the world. He tried, though. He always tried.

“Hey,” Andrew said, “Look at me.”

It took a moment for Neil to look back at the screen, eyes turned down a bit as he looked at Andrew’s face rather than at the camera. The disparity grated at the edges of Andrew’s nerves, but anything was better than not seeing Neil for the next few weeks until school started back up. He looked at Neil’s face—had he ever really stopped—tracing the pixelated jawline with his eyes, memorizing the face he knew so well. He sighed, a sound so sad he was shocked it came out of his own mouth.

“I’ll get you out of there,” he said finally, softly, attempting to meet Neil’s eyes to no avail.

Neil smiled wryly, looking down and away from the screen. “Last time we played Portal, you couldn’t even get yourself out of the pit you fell into without my help.”

“Neil, I will hang up on you,” Andrew said, a scowl forming. It was hard to keep up the act when Neil laughed like that again, and he rolled his eyes before Neil could look back and see how fondly he was looking at him. “We make a pretty good team, I’ll give you that.”

“Teamwork makes the dreamwork?” Neil asked in a questioning tone, and Andrew finished his elongated eye-roll only to glare at Neil. Fuck. Who let him be that cute? It should be illegal, but maybe there were enough illegalities in Neil’s past that God just gave him this.

A knock on Andrew’s door tore their eyes from the screen and each other. Neil glanced at his own door behind him as a reflex. Andrew fumbled for the mute button on his screen, missing the first few times.

Andrew cleared his throat. “Come in,” he said. Bee stuck her head in the door, her usual calm smile gracing her face and preceding her into the room. She perched above him on the bed, glancing over at his paused screen and the sliver of Neil’s face still visible (since he could never quite manage to get completely out of the frame).

“How is Neil tonight?” she asked, knowing that Andrew would have muted himself.

“He’s _fine_ ,” Andrew said, and Bee hummed. She wiggled her fingers at the camera and Neil frantically responded with a wave of his own. Neil had a strange relationship with all parents, especially his own, and found it harder to ignore one in any way.

“Three weeks right?” she asked Andrew, and he turned away from Neil to look up at her. He nodded. “I’m glad you’ve found a way to still talk despite the distance.” When Andrew didn’t reply, she smoothed her hands over the suit she hadn’t yet changed out of. “Do you want a kiss goodnight?”

“Yes,” Andrew said, and she pressed one to the top of his head before standing up. He called out a “Love you, Mom,” before she reached the door.

Bee turned back with a smile. “I love you too, Andrew,” she said quietly, with another wave at Neil though he couldn’t see. She shut the door behind her.

He unmuted himself and Neil immediately started speaking as though he could sense it. “She wasn’t mad, was she?”

“It’s summer vacation. I doubt she would mind anyway.” Andrew and Neil had started up their facetime-gaming dates once school let out for the summer, and Andrew’s parents had to work to hide their happiness at the new event he’d added to his daily schedule. They tried to talk every night, even if it was just for a little bit—to talk about what happened that day (Andrew usually saved his juicy tidbits from work to bring a smile to Neil’s face, since Neil was cooped up in his house all summer until registration for classes) or just to fall asleep together. Pig and Bee were never upset with him and placated the nerves he’d had the first night they caught him with a few jokes and a lot of acceptance.

Neil attempted to stifle a yawn, and Andrew’s eyes were on him again. “Did you sleep last night?”

“Yes,” Neil said immediately, but winced at the lie once it left his lips. “A little. It’s just—it’s just easier to fall asleep with you.”

They’d only been friends for less than a year (grudgingly thrown together in gym class, forming a friendship based on skill and a collective interest to kick Kevin Day’s ass), and they’d embarked on this _something more_ right before school ended, but Andrew felt gooey inside at Neil’s words. Disgustingly gooey, he tried to tell himself, but he knew how much he liked it. Liked Neil.

“Let’s go to bed. It’s not like we were really making any progress anyway. One day I’m going to teach you how to actually play.”

Neil protested but shut his laptop all the same. Andrew put his aside as well and dragged himself onto his bed (making sure not to fall as he sometimes did, since that embarrassment was something he might not be able to come back from, even with Neil). He turned the brightness on his phone to 100% before flicking his own light off, so that his face was still illuminated on Neil’s screen; Neil’s was a little darker, but he could make out a hint of his features in the dark.

Despite his inability to fall asleep without talking to Andrew, Neil knocked out almost immediately as he always did when they facetimed. His eyes fluttered shut after a few minutes of gazing at Andrew, and his breathing evened out. Andrew turned the brightness down a little and shifted around until he was comfortable facing the wall and Neil.

He wondered if they would still do this when they were back to seeing each other everyday. His routine would change, which was never fun, but if Andrew got to see Neil in real life it would all be worth it. He never really smiled, but he felt a hint of one curving his lips as his eyes drifted shut.

**Author's Note:**

> [read on tumblr](http://lady-gryffindor.tumblr.com/post/175612003368/is-it-a-video-rated-t-1431-11-neil-and)


End file.
